Numerous aerodynamic devices are mounted on motor vehicles in order to optimize performance, either to increase road holding or, more often, to reduce drag. Such devices are usually provided at the front or the rear of the vehicle. However, other regions of the vehicle can contribute to creating certain aerodynamic disturbances. Thus, in order to reduce the effects associated with this phenomenon, one of the techniques currently used on certain vehicles is to reduce the impact of such disturbances by incorporating a frontal wheel spoiler or flap. The effect of this spoiler is to reduce flow into the wheelhouse.
FR 2 897 038 discloses an example of an aerodynamic device for a vehicle, the device including a flap designed to deflect the air at the front of a wheel of a vehicle in motion, the flap being movable between a lowered position in which it is deployed towards the ground and a retracted raised position. The device includes means of moving the flap towards the ground and rearwards so that in the deployed position the flap is, near the ground and near the wheel, substantially parallel to the simplified front surface of the wheel. However, the effectiveness of this type of device is limited. Further, it does not prevent the generation of vortices in the rear part of the wheel. Moreover, the fact that it is located very near to the base of the wheel carries certain risks of damage associated with potential impacts against obstacles such as kerbs, stones, foreign bodies of all kinds left on the road surface, etc.
Wheel fairings consisting of plates or panels or other large-sized surfaces positioned in front of the wheel, or in front of a significant portion of the wheel, as described for example in JP 4176784, are also known. In this example, the surface of the fairing occupies practically the entire upper half of the wheel. Such devices have the disadvantage of greatly reducing access to the wheel and/or to the tyre. Thus, it is difficult to carry out a visual inspection of the tyres without either moving the vehicle or removing the fairing, and removing the wheel itself entails first of all removing the fairing.